Sphere over Stevens Point, WI

The report, as filed

On August 26, 2016, at 19:31 hours, I was driving north in the right lane on I-39 going around Stevens Point, traveling about 69 mph. Where this sighting occurred, I-39 is actually going in an East-West direction. There was no precipitation and relatively clear sky. The sun would soon be setting at about the 9 o’clock position to my car. The distant trees and buildings on the south side of the road in this location would block the sun from coming into my car. I noticed at about the 11 o’clock position, there was an intensely bright white round-shaped object about 600’ away and moving relatively slow in an easterly direction about 25’ above the ground. When I noticed it, it appeared to be about 20” in diameter and just beyond the south side of the road. It then dipped down, then up to about 40’ above the ground, greatly picking up speed as it then curved to the North/NE and passed over the ‘south-bound’ lanes. As it moved over the approximately 50’ of median plus road shoulders it dipped downward coming directly towards my car and hitting the middle of my windshield, glancing off, and continuing NE in a straight line. As it hit it made a very loud, heavy ‘dunk’ sound followed by a ‘clink’. From my right side window, I saw it go straight to the NE and then was out of my sight. At the moment of impact, from the loud sound I had braced for the windshield to break apart or at the very least be cracked. To my amazement it didn’t break ! apart. I continued approximately two miles to my destination and examined the windshield. I could not find a single trace of anything on it: no breakage, cracks, or smudges of any type. When I first saw the object, I thought it was a large bird. However, as I continued to watch it as it crossed the south-bound lanes and get closer, it appeared to diminish to about 6” in diameter with what appeared to be a heavy 6” tail like that of a comet’s dust tail by the time it hit my car. I don’t know if it actually had a heavy ‘dust trail’ or if that was my brain trying to track its movement. I do know that with it coming within 24” of my face there were no wings, feathers, beak, eyes, feet, or anything remotely resembling a bird or of any other color: Just a very intense white ball-shape. In addition, when fowl or animals hit a vehicle, they usually hit with a ‘thud’ sound due to the compression of soft tissue. And a bird’s beak usually hits before or during impact, not afterward and usually has a different sound other than the ‘clink’ I heard. Plus there will usually be some type of smudge or residue on the glass. I was very puzzled by whatever it was that I saw and hit my windshield, but since there was no damage done, I chalked it up to being ‘unknown’. That changed October 22, 2016, with a similar sighting at night. October report filed separately.

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #130925). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.